Monday, July 7, 2014

dragons love tacos.

to put it lightly, i had a VERY busy week!

my son Makai turned 3 last Sunday and boy did we celebrate! we held a party at a park near our apt that was themed after Makai's favorite book (right now) Dragons Love Tacos. it felt fun, unique, and pretty easy to execute (which was key).


basically, i had a a big taco party and fit in a few dragon detailing to tie it all together. like i said, i'm pretty broke, so i kind of rely on ways to be creative and make everything myself to have a great party in my small budget.


we ordered some of our food from a local taqueria that we love and just kind of built up the menu ourselves. we made some grilled mexican corn, bought crunchy taco shells, got tons of salsas on sale and put them into little mason jars for a salsa bar effect, made a little nacho bar with nacho cheese squirt bottles, my aunt made a ton of desserts, and since we got bags of chips at costco, we were able to talk the taqueria into replacing our chips with churros!

then to throw in some dragon-ness, i had to DIY a few things since all i could find as far as party supplies were Chinese new year dragons (isn't Chinese New Year in Feb??). so i made some dragon hats, a couple pairs of dragon wings for Makai and myself, cut out a little cardboard birthday message on flames for a photo-op, and then tried to focus the color story to green, yellow, and red (it felt fiery/dragony/taco-y all in one).



i think the highlight was definitely my homemade taco piñata (or tacoñata as my friend so eloquently put it). i'm pretty proud of my handiwork! i got the idea from studioDIY and it was pretty easy to follow!


it did prove a little stronger than i meant, and i ended up having to rip it apart myself, but the kids didn't mind. once they saw the candy pour out, everything else became a blur. 



then of course there was cake :] i made little tacos out of golden oreos and various candies and then made a little pennant out of cardstock to keep it all in theme. so far i've been making Makai's personal sized birthday cake myself every year. i kind of like letting him have his own cake for his birthday. i think it adds to the special-ness" of it all. this year was especially fun because it was the first year he seemed to enjoy everyone watching and singing to him. he's a bit of a timid child, so when everyone crowded around him, it used to freak him out. this year he smiled and loved it when everyone cheered as he blew out the candles and ate his cake himself. it's fun watching him grow up!

 


the biggest downfall of the party was mother nature. i love her and all, but man can she be a beast! all month, the weather here had been AMAZING, and then his birthday party morning rolled around, and it was the windiest, gloomiest day ever :[ i'm talking plates flying out of hands, decorations whooshing away to oblivion, and a banner that ended up reading "H P P   A Y    M K I" instead of "HAPPY 3RD BDAY MAKAI!"

but as long as he had fun, right?



 



Makai:
varsity jacket - (old) BabyGap (not currently in season)
white button up - Old Navy (on sale here)
bowtie - handmade by me :] (etsy here)
skinny jeans - Old Navy
wings - DIY :]

Mark:
Taco Shirt - Target
sunglasses - Banana Republic
calculator watch - Casio from Amazon.com

Alyssa:
scarf - Gap (available here)
wings - DIY 
 

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